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 ne of the greatest things about owning a manual shifting Mustang is the fun you can have rowing through the gears, hitting your
1st-2nd shift, and dammit! Missing the
2nd-3rd shift. Well, many a Mustang owner have been known to have this occur, and luckily, there's an abundant supply of aftermarket companies producing
short-throw shifters to help solve that problem. One of said companies is Pro 5.0 who supplied us with their short-throw shifter for the T-5/T-45 transmission.
Installing this in our '94 Cobra project car, already equipped with a Steeda Tri-Ax shifter, gave us an excellent opportunity to really be able to compare the two in terms of performance and comfort. Installation of the shifter is straight forward, and most of the steps will apply to most of the aftermarket shifters available for the
T-5/T-45 transmission.
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Our '94 Cobra project car owned by site member 94Cobra already had the Steeda Tri-Ax shifter installed before this article, along with a new FRPP flywheel and King Cobra clutch after the stock one finally gave way. Installing the new Pro 5.0 supplied unit gave us an excellent opportunity to road test and compare the two.
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 To begin, remove the shift knob by unscrewing it from the shifter handle. Once removed, begin prying the plastic cover/leather shift boot to gain access to the shifter itself. Found it easiest to lift the back first, then the front. Be careful not to break the plastic clips that hold it in place! When the cover is loose, disconnect the power outlet connections and lift the leather boot over the rest of the shifter.
 With the cover off, you now have access to the shifter handle bolts. The handle must be removed prior to removing the rubber shift boot.
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 After removing the shifter handle, remove the rubber shift boot. This is done by un-bolting 4 small screws on the corners of the plate connected to the shift boot. The driver-side
front-most bolt was difficult to get at with the ratchet, so a small wrench was used. Be careful when pulling the boot off as it has a tendency to tear easily.
 Once the rubber shift boot has been removed, you now have access to the shifter itself. Use a ratchet to un-bolt the 4 bolts located at each corner of the shifter. These stock bolts will be replaced with longer ones necessary due to the increased height of the Pro 5.0 shifter over the stock one.
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First order of business is to set down a base-line with the Steeda Tri-Ax unit. This shifter improved the shifting quality over stock incredibly. With a two-height adjustable handle, you can have super short shifts for racing, or switch to a more comfortable, but longer throw position for more daily driving duties. Finding 3rd gear on the 2nd-3rd shift is made much easier compared to the stock piece, and overall, the Tri-Ax provides much more positive feedback when you engage the gear, getting rid of the sloppiness the stock unit had. Priced at $175.95, it was worth the money.
On first impression, the Pro 5.0 shifter seems of top-notch quality. Quality materials and design were used, with a strong, sturdy shifter handle, wheras the Steeda aluminum handle, although utilizing an I-beam construction, seems a little more fragile. The shift-stops are the same as on a lot of aftermarket shifters, using a setup of a couple bolts and locking nuts, simple yet effective. The shifter comes completely assembled, with the exception of the handle, so installation is a breeze.
Pro 5.0 also supplied us with their chrome finished shift knob. The sleek design, much smaller than the stock shift knob, allows
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for better grip, with much "classier" looks, making the complete finished product that much better. We did, however, have one problem with the supplied shift knob. Upon opening, it was noticed that a flake of the chrome plating had come off of the corner of the knob. Although it was a small piece, it was still a blemish nonetheless, and eventually led to more of the chrome plating flaking off, unfortunately, with a shard digging itself into your truly's palm on a 2nd-3rd gear shift. Joe from Pro 5.0 is however correcting the problem, sending a new piece, no questions asked.
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After installing the Pro 5.0 shifter, it was time to road test it. Already having experienced the improvements the Steeda unit provided, along with the numerous claims of the Pro 5.0 shifter being the Steeda's equal, there really wasn't much of an improvement expected. The actual test proved much to the contrary however. The Pro 5.0 shifter felt much more firm on every shift. The spring setup guides you to 3rd gear effortlessly, and provided a lot more confidence with a hard 2nd-3rd shift. The throw of the shifter seemed much shorter than the Steeda unit, and allowed for some really quick shifts for any gear.
Where the Steeda unit has become somewhat known for increasing the amount of transmission noises within the interior, the Pro 5.0 shifter is no different, however, the amount of noise heard was noticeably less, even with the lack of the rubber isolator between the shifter and handle, like the Steeda unit provides. We didn't try it, but we'd assume that if a rubber isolator were added to the Pro 5.0, the noise would be even less, although this would probably hinder the shifting abilities.
Any worries of the non-
adjustable handle being uncomfortable for daily driving were immediately put to rest. Even with the extremely short throw, the handle is always in an easily reached position, never having to stretch or be put in an awkward position, allowing you to focus more on the driving, rather than finding the shifter. Although
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 Once un-bolted, remove the shifter from the transmission, making sure to keep the plastic bushing in place. Be careful when removing the shifter, as there may be transmission fluid on it, so have a rag handy to stop it from getting on the interior.
 With the shifter removed, begin scrabbing the transmission to shifter mounting surface of any gasket/sealant, making sure to prevent it from falling into the transmission.
 After the surface has been cleaned and prepped, apply a new bead of sealant, making sure to circle the 4 bolt holes completely. Once done, place the new shifter onto the transmission, and use the supplied bolts to secure it. DO NOT over tighten these bolts, remember, the transmission case is only aluminum.
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 Now it's time to set the shift stops. You may want to attach the handle temporarily for this process to add more leverage. Shift into 1st gear and push forward on the shifter handle. At the same time, move the front shift stop to touch the shift handle, then back it off one turn to add a small gap. Do this same procedure for 2nd gear. Once done, run through all of the gears to check for interferance with the shift stops, and adjust as necessary.
 The rubber shift boot needs to be cut to fit now. Because of the size of the shifter, the stock boot will not fit as it is, so Pro 5.0 supplies a paper template to help you modify the shift boot to fit. Place the template on the boot to get an idea of where it needs to be cut and cut out the piece. Once cut, go ahead and put the shift boot on, stretching it to fit around the base of the shifter, creating a tight seal.
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we did like the position of the shifter handle, there may be some other sized drivers that might find it uncomfortable, so we're still going to take a couple points off of Pro 5.0's score for not offering the adjustable handle.
In the end, this author finds the Pro 5.0 shifter to out-perform the Steeda Tri-Ax, even with the non-adjustable handle. Although generally priced slightly higher than the Tri-Ax, it's well worth the extra cash to get the Pro 5.0 shifter instead. Shifting ability was a huge improvement over not just the stock shifter, but the Tri-Ax as well. Interior noise was considerably less than the Tri-Ax, although still more than the stock unit. Like the Tri-Ax, the Pro 5.0 installation was a breeze. We'd like to take the time to thank Joe from Pro 5.0 for supplying us with the shifter and knob. If you'd like more information on the shifter or to buy, please visit www.Pro50.com.
Be sure to let them know StangSource sent you.
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 Attach the shifter handle to the shifter itself using the supplied bolts. This is just a simple two bolt procedure. Once installed, just put the leather shift boot back in place and screw on your shift knob and you're done!
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